Crime & Safety

Medford Man Allegedly Costs MBTA $200K with Fake Passes

Riders used the man's counterfeit tickets over 15,000 times in some months, authorities said.

A Medford man allegedly created and distributed hundreds of fake MBTA passes from October 2013 to March 2014.

The man’s counterfeit tickets cost the MBTA a total of about $200,000 in lost revenue and were used over 15,000 times by riders in some months, authorities said Monday.

Casey Kolenda, 27, was arrested Sunday at his Medford home by Massachusetts State Police troopers, according to a Monday release from the state Attorney General’s Office. He was charged with five counts of counterfeiting with a value over $10,000.

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The state’s investigation began in August 2013, after MBTA Transit Police discovered the existence of hundreds of unauthorized tickets in use by subway and bus riders.

Kolenda allegedly carried out the counterfeit operation from his Medford home, creating $70 Link Passes by copying one with a magnetic strip reading device, known as a “skimmer,” and then downloading that information to the fake passes.

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He was arraigned Tuesday morning in Somervile District Court.


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